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Implanted between two historic stone buildings, in an exceptional place, the new building is characterised by a volume inserted into the ground and emerging at both ends at different altitudes. Its size and orientation are precisely defined by the topography of the site. The upper terrace, old area of milking cows, retains its character and proportions of origin.

The volumetric impact on this remarkable site is reduced. It boils down to the appearance on the surface of two precise and mineral shapes, abstract marks and isolated contextual scale. These emergences define the access to the main space and bring the natural light as differentiated way.

For its physical, properties, the concrete, here used in its simplest form, replaced the stone. At the time wall and roof, it expresses multiple possibilities of use. The strong mineral expression becomes the dominant feature of the new construction and gives the building a real authenticity and established a particular dialogue between tradition and modernity.

Community Shelter, Mollens, Switzerland, by frundgallina
Photography by Milo Keller

The project attempts to frame and diversify the views over its surroundings and incorporate them within the most significant spaces in the house. The main space, connected through a double height corridor to the back patio, incorporates sun inside the house for both comfort and climatic reasons. The house has a green roof that helps to control its interior temperature changes, and will incorporate state of the art environmental conditions to fulfill the highest environmental standards. The configuration of the house, based on the openings to the different environments that surround it, defines unique relationships with the water and the mountain – its real asset.

The Six Walls House is hidden amongst the pine trees and rocky landscape of Nacka, it has been designed in such a way as to make the most out of its location’s generous views over the sea and surrounding nature. Six Walls House became early in the process a working title. The house consists of six 5.4 meter high walls located along the promenade to the waterfront. The walls are anchored to a closed wall to the north. As a contrast to the context, the house was built around a robust and clear material where concrete blocks with cement plaster became an important part.

The Bridge House addresses the condition of views and the wooded landscape. It is composed of three volumetric elements: the bedroom volume, the living volume, and a bar of bedrooms that spans between the first two. The space at the ground floor between the volumes is enclosed with glass and will house entrance and living areas. The void between volumes frames views of the landscape, but also allows the landscape to slide through the house- allowing the inside and outside to blur. The composition of rectilinear elements allows each to remain legible, while producing a fourth implied volume between them. The fourth space is an “outdoor” room, momentarily “held” between the others and extending out into the landscape.

This project originates in the architecture plan of the Transparent Japanese House, first presented in 2002. The structure sits alongside the Shoren-in Temple, which was built during the Heian period between 794 and 1185. The idea has been developed into a transparent teahouse, an architectural project incorporating a symbolic Japanese cultural image – to host elaborate tea ceremonies. The tea houses’s roof is made up of overlapping glass planes, supported by a slender steel framework featuring a mirrored surface that camouflages with the glass.

The approach for the renovation and extension of the Hopetoun Road Residence is to retain the existing structure as an anchoring element, adding a series of pavilions underneath a floating copper roofline that wraps around the original building. Embracing the client’s desire to maintain a fairly conventional residential structure, the design strengthens the form by creating a gable façade at the front and back with a clearly defined outline. Clad in polished grey render, the gables emphasize solidity and give the house a re-established sense of history and permanence.

In contrast the extensions, composed as ribbons of copper wrapping around the solid structure, sit softly above recessed glazing. As a counterpoint to the verticality of the façade, the thin, single-level roofline expresses horizontality. The copper banding creates various spatial experiences as it interacts with the original house. The tension and balance between old and new are carried into the interiors of the house. The existing structure maintains the intimate qualities of the original house with a series of crafted details. The new areas, made primarily from glass, are open to the green landscape beyond. Prominent use of steel-framed windows is a unifying element throughout the project.

Brasilia was built out on the brazilian savannah in four year during the 60s, based upon a masterplan made by Lúcio Costa. Most of the important buildings are designed by the brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer. The lay out of the urban plan resembles an airplane, containing two main axes with the main governmental functions in what would be the “cockpit” of the plane. The pilot plan with its huge open spaces, buildings, streets and public squares was meant to be represent an ideal city of future, true to the ideals of modernistic city planning of that time. Today Brasilia stands out as a well planned utopian future city from the past. Whatever the conclusion might be on the urban planning, the collection of buildings stands out as an impressive work of modern architecture.

Perched on a hilltop with sweeping views of a valley below, the tendrils of this new house unravel between the existing oak trees to create a complex layering of architecture and landscape. Punctuated by a single, quiet tower, the balance of the new construction is rendered in small, single-story volumes that rest carefully beneath the tree canopy. Exterior courtyards and interior spaces are sculpted with a similar language and scale, blurring the boundary between building and site.

A meandering stream collides with the rigid geometry of orchards to provide a setting for this rural residence. It is comprised of earthen masses which bracket the landscape and protect the interior from intense southern sun. The resultant open space is used for living, cooking and dining. A cantilevered roof gathers the space, making inside and out feel as one. Concrete, steel, reclaimed wood and water are employed to enhance the connection between building, landscape, and the surrounding agricultural vernacular.

Some prismatic volumes come out from the four stone sidewalls, thus enclosing the space and differentiating each room. The area between the rooms is covered by a timber roof acting as a hall and a connector. The opening sequence of the gaps of the home located in a residential area surrounded by large pine forest reflects the hierarchical order of the outdoor areas. The aim of the proposal is the creation of different outdoor areas linked to the rooms inside, according to their level of privacy. Each room is differently high according to its use and spreads its program on a single level, except for the bedrooms’ bay. This operation generates a cross-shaped plan that arranges the external space. The materials, together with the raking light from a longitudinal roof light, produce a warm and cosy atmosphere. The timber volume works as a connector and distributor of the different rooms, and at the same time opens to all the outdoor areas. The volumes containing the living room, the dining room and the kitchen, however independents, are visually linked because of their position, making the house wider and more transparent. The other two volumes host the main bedroom, two bedrooms on the lower floor and a studio on the upper floor. A continuous veranda enlarge the rooms, generating outdoor areas that open and extend the rooms.

A House Surrounded By A Pine Forest, Valencia, Spain, by Ramon Esteve
Photography by Mariela Apollonio

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